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Mo-Doped FeP Nanospheres for Artificial Nitrogen Fixation
journal contribution
posted on 2020-03-31, 18:09 authored by Yu-Xi Luo, Wei-Bin Qiu, Ru-Ping Liang, Xing-Hua Xia, Jian-Ding QiuElectrochemical
conversion of N2 to NH3 under
ambient conditions is a promising and environmentally friendly route
compared with the CO2-emitting and energy-intensive Haber–Bosch
process. Nevertheless, due to ultrahigh stability of N2, it is urgent to explore efficient catalysts to weaken and activate
the N≡N bond. Here, we report the Mo-doped iron phosphide (Mo-FeP)
nanosphere as a valid transition-metal-based catalyst for electrochemical
N2-to-NH3 fixation under ambient conditions.
This catalyst exhibits excellent catalytic performance with a NH4+ yield rate (13.1 μg h–1 mg–1) and Faradaic efficiency (7.49%) at −0.3
and −0.2 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), respectively.
However, the FeP catalyst without doped Mo species displays weak catalytic
performance. We found that the better catalytic performance of Mo-FeP
might be due to the doping of Mo species, which is favorable for the
polarization of adsorbed N2 molecules, making the N≡N
bond more viable to dissociate.